'Roaring 20s' party benefits education

Updated 7:57 am, Monday, March 31, 2014

Photo: Joan Vogan / For The Chronicle

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Dr. Dennis Halford, who attracted lots of attention in his red suit, posed with new Fort Bend ISD teachers, from left, Tara Cruse, Sarah Rodgers, and Rachel Geurlein. The teachers were selling boxes of chalk - the way young women used to stroll through speak-easies with cigars and cigarettes -- to raise money for the New Teachers' Fund. less

Dr. Dennis Halford, who attracted lots of attention in his red suit, posed with new Fort Bend ISD teachers, from left, Tara Cruse, Sarah Rodgers, and Rachel Geurlein. The teachers were selling boxes of chalk - ... more

Details: The 21st annual gala, presented by Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott, was another unqualified success for the foundation. More than 800 attended, and every school in Fort Bend Independent School District provided a silent auction basket.

At the end of the day, the event raised $255,000 for the foundation.

Flappers and their dapper escorts were seen in abundance.

If there had been a prize for best-looking outfit, surely it would have gone to founding member and former foundation board president Dr. Dennis Halford. He carried his pin-striped, wide-legged red suit - complete with spats and hat - off with flair.

The mission of the Fort Bend Education Foundation is to enrich and enhance the quality of education for all Fort Bend ISD students by awarding grants to teachers and school programs to fund innovative teaching ideas.